B9C21

"This is the end!" Salem said, laughing wildly. "I shall say I'd miss you all but that would be a lie. Die knowing your best was and never would be enough!" She brought her hand up above her head, black energy in the form of ten orbs spinning wildly around it. "Goodbye!"

"No!"

I slammed my will forward, trying to build an Ironwood shield despite how useless I knew it would be. The silver metal had just begun to form into the shape of a dome when I saw it – the brief flicker and tear behind Salem, opening into a jagged and hazy portal.

And the red blur that tore through the air on a collision course with her.

Ruby struck Salem while she was in the process of bringing her hands down to kill them all. Her scythe swung down into the first of the spinning orbs, sealing and removing it – granting her a direct path in toward Salem. Her scythe swung, slicing into a wing and shattering on impact.

"Arghhh!"

Still moving at high speed and with Salem having no ability to steady herself, Ruby crashed into her. Her wings swept back, and she was sent hurtling back from the impact, with Ruby still attached to her. The two of them fell through the portal.

"Close it!" Ruby screamed. "Close it now, Weiss!"

The portal winked out, taking Salem and Ruby with it.

"Where did you send her!?" I yelled at Weiss. "Where did that go!"

The Mage panted and collapsed to all fours, sweat dripping from her body. "Outside," she panted. "Outside the walls. It was… as far as I could… ah… manage."

In the distance, in the torn and ravaged plains where the Grimm had besieged the walls, a huge explosion rocked the city and threw them all from their feet. The black light reached up in a tall pillar, so bright in its darkness that it blocked out the sun. When it dissipated, all that remained was a loud ringing in their ears.

And Ruby and Salem, now outside the walls.

Ruby no longer had a scythe.

/-/

Ruby hit the ground and bounced, rolling away to bleed off the momentum before coming to a stop. Dust and dirt scattered over her from the blast which had struck the ground before she did. The aftershocks continued to force her back, even if the main attack had missed her, trapped in the air as she'd been after her collision.

The ringing in her ears slowly subsided and she planted both hands down to push up onto one knee.

It worked. The attack missed the city.

But now they were outside it, outside the ring of Heroes keeping Salem trapped.

"Portals," Salem spat. "One aspect I never mastered. Never needed to master."